East Coast Smeast Coast.

Some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

When I was packing up my green backpack and suitcase I realized that I owned a lot of green

In Delaware before we left for Virginia we tried to learn how to use the Camera's timer.

This was our best attempt.

A sink in my friends crazy old Richmond house

Another Bathroom's sink in the same house. A house full of crazy sinks

A flourless chocolate cake that my older sister made for my dad's birthday

Almond cheesecake covered in delicious fruit for the same birthday.

This is by no means all of the photos that I took but I thought I would give you a quick taste of how I spent some of my time while I was on the east coast. The report might be a little skewed towards sinks and cakes but I see nothing wrong with that.

IPad

Shows

This past week I've been making a distinct effort to stay busy- to get out at night and to really embrace the beautiful weather that we're having while we have it. It can be so easy to sit on your lazy butt all day after you get off work because, of course, sitting down can feel so good after 7 or 8 hours of standing. Here's what I've been up to most recently.

Friday: Went to see my friend Kristopher's band, Perfect Look, play for the first time. A small side note might be made that today my ears are still ringing from listening to the two bands that played before them. Earplugs are a definite must.

Saturday: Got out to see a band of fellows that I've had a serious of crushes or dates on called And, And, And. They played a good show but who really blew me away that evening was a band called Death Songs. A really serious name but a really impressive band.

Sunday I just went to see Patagonia Rising, a movie about damning these two rivers in Patagonia that Stephanie's friend had made. I crashed pretty early after that which was good since Monday turned out to be a really long day.

Then, yesterday, Monday, I went out to see Perfect look again and got to see this super fun Japanese band called M.O.T.O. and that was really rad.

Tonight, there may be dinner with friends and a cheap draft beer at $2 beer nights but no deafening shows for me. Tomorrow, I go out to see a band that I may have mentioned here before My Autumn's Done Come who have recently changed their name to just Autumn's Done Come. So, it's going to continue to be a happening week.

All day fun

All day bus pass inside the book I'm reading now

(a collection of short novels by John Steinbeck)

Today, I woke up late to see posted on the house's white board 3 all day bus passes. So, I decided to go on an adventure to St. John's a little town on the north side of Portland. Now, a few hours later and just a little bit car sick I am here to tell you about it.

Pizza

Old School place I had pizza at.

Little Bike carriage that I saw when I got off the bus

signs like these always make me miss people or places

Shout out Katelyn (whose birthday was yesterday)

On my own

All of the days of the past week have been spent with one homeless friend or another until tonight. Up until this point, I've been helping people move boxes and furniture, driving stuff to and from different storage spaces, and squirreling people's things away at my house. I've come home from work to a friend (and sometimes a dog) at my house, I go to bed and a friend is on my couch but suddenly things have changed

I'm all alone for the evening and I don't know what to do. I took a deep breath, I worked on my art project, I ate some homemade watermelon sorbet, I've watched the first two episodes of Mad Men and I am lonely. What do you do when all of the social interaction you've been having finds another place to stay?

I think that having my space back and getting to be calm is going to prove useful in keeping my sanity but I have fallen in love with the constant bustle of people, in my room, and generally in my space. I'm used to them needing my help and I don't know what to do now that no one needs me.

Oh, well, I'll go to bed, sleep well and wake up to a spacious room in the morning. It's not all bad.

Taking it easy

So, this past week has been full of helping my friend Kristopher move out of his house and become, temporarily homeless. I wanted to take before and after pictures of his house but I forgot to bring my camera over. Moving is always such a huge transition from start to finish and I would have loved to show off my handiwork. Oh well.

An appropriately summery bonus I got out of helping Kristopher out with the move is a brand new ice cream maker that no one in their house knew what to do with. I really get to enjoy summer now as I have the day off and a container full of homemade, watermelon sobet in my freezer. My household also got a kitchen rug and a loner chair out of the move.

The container and my bowl of summery deliciousness

Watermelon Sobet

Since my buddy is temporarily displaced he's been staying at our house for the past few days. Usually, this would be a problem because he has a puppy and I'm not much of a dog person but, she is officially the best dog ever. I have never had so many positive interactions with a dog. I might be falling in love. Today we went for a little run, which is something I've slacked on hard this week with all the moving help and chillin' time that I've been getting. Now she's lounging next to me as I cobble together this post outside (on a perfect, sunny and 72° day).

This is my new best friend Lucy

She's super, super cute.

Yet another thing I'm doing (with pictures too) as I enjoy the beautiful summer air outside is checking on my tomatoes. They're really coming along. I think today I counted 9 tomatoes on the plant but only one of them is getting red so far.

A bunch of green tomatoes

A peak at a red one.

I realize that it has been a serious while since the blog was last updated but please, friendly readers, don't be upset. I found my camera charger which means this and subsequent posts will be loaded with delicious summer pictures with which I hope to appease you.

Trimmed up

Our yard just got its version of a haircut and I can tell it feels kind of naked. The way that you feel naked after you cut off all of your long hair and you go to wash it when you shower and it's all gone. This is how my yard feels. It feels like all of its beautiful hair is gone. And when I say beautiful hair, I mean blackberries.

The landlord came over today and "cleaned up" our yard which, to me, means that he cut down all of the beautiful and productive rose and blackberry bushes. Our yard looks stunted and a little bit pathetic. But, it'll grow into itself. I'm just going to miss having those blackberries to great me every day when I get home from work. I'm going to miss them a lot.

It's ok. The good news is: I got off of work early today. Also, I bought my ticket back to the east coast. The running joke right now is I'm just going to move back since I have yet to purchase my flight back to the West Coast. Don't get yourself too excited. I'm not actually moving back east. I'm trying to establish some in state residency for myself here so when I figure out what's good I can go to school for it. But, I am looking forward to seeing you lovelies and to eating at some delicious Richmond restaurants (shout out Black Sheep and Kuba Kuba with maybe a little love to Strawberry Street Cafe and some 8 and a half pizza).

I hope you all are having a lovely weekend.